They are to be piled with the fuze-holes down, and free from contact; under cover when practicable, but with free ventilation.
101. Platforms of masonry, or of condemned shot, are to be prepared to pile shot and shell upon, and are not to be wider, if space can be found than to stow fourteen 32-pdr. shot, or not exceeding eight feet in width. Square piles are to be preferred where there is room, but where this may be deficient, the piles may be extended in length.
102. Shot and shell, after having been piled, are to be so far examined in the first week of June in each year as to ascertain if they require to be cleaned, relacquered, and repiled to secure their proper preservation; and their condition reported to the Bureau, that if any work upon them is necessary it may be finished during the warm months of the year, when the lacquer can be best applied.
103. Whenever shot or shell are to receive lacquer care must be taken that the quantity applied does not increase the diameter more than is indispensably necessary, and in no case above the established high gauge. Old lacquer and rust should be removed by scraping, as far as can be conveniently done before a new coating is applied. For use at the Navy Yards, a milling machine performs this very expeditiously. Neither hammering nor heating is to be resorted to for this purpose.
Note.—After numerous experiments upon different lacquers employed for the preservation of shot and shell from rust, the French have abandoned all of them.
The shot and shell are simply piled, under sheds when practicable, or in the open air, and when put on board ship cleaned of rust and rubbed over with whale oil—the same means adopted every three months during the cruise.
PREPARATION OF SHELL FOR SERVICE.
104. The fuzes for shell will be prepared at the Laboratory in the Ordnance Yard at Washington, and distributed to other Navy Yards as they may be required. All fuzes taken from shell, or returned from ships which have been more than one year in service, are to be sent to the laboratory to be refitted. Fuzes of over two years date of manufacture, are not to be issued for service, but returned to the laboratory.
105. The charges of powder for spherical shell are to be as follows:
| XV-inch | XI-inch | X-inch | IX-inch | 8-inch | 32-Pdr. | Boat and Field Howitzers. | ||
| 24-pdr. | 12-pdr. | |||||||
| Lbs. | Lbs. | Lbs. | Lbs. | Lbs. | Lbs. | Lbs. | Lbs. | |
| Bursting or Service Charge | 13 | 6.00 | 4.00 | 3.00 | 1.85 | 0.90 | 1.0 | 0.5 |
| Blowing Charge | 1.0 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | ||